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9.14.2012

Craft Confessions | DOLLAR STORE CHAIR CUSHION

Remember how I repainted this chair, and how I was trying to stick to a super tight budget at the same time? Well as I was painting the chair, I know I was probably going to need some kind of cushion if I planned on using my office for any extended periods of time. If I still lived in Utah, I would probably just speed down to our local Ikea and score a super cheap cushion for a couple bucks. Alas, I am not, and that option simply doesn't exist here, so I had to get crafty.

In the same outing to the dollar store where I purchased the candles to finish the chair, I also grabbed a canvas tote, which had a flower design on one side. I snatched the bag and set off with a plan.

First, I made a freezer paper stencil, which incorporated the bracket element from the logo of my business, The Main Event. I ironed the stencil onto the back side of the tote, and filled in the openings with the most gorgeous pearl mint (I really fought hard to avoid the pricey Martha Stewart paints, but she just makes such perfect colors!). I already had the paint from a previous project, so I count it as $0 spent toward that particular element of the project.

Once the paint was dry, I cut off the bag straps. I cut each strap in half, then folded and finished one end of each piece (I had four pieces at this point). I wanted to round the back edges of the pad to fit into my chair better, so I flipped the bag inside out and traced an arc from edge to edge. I measured across my chair to the two rungs onto which I would tie my cushion (about 9" on center from rung to rung) and marked those intersections on my cushion. Each of the four straps were pinned to the arc, two straps per mark, and I sewed across the entire arc. Then, I flipped the cushion right-side-out, made sure my arc was nice and rounded, and stuffed away. Here's the thing: I'm really frugal, and so is my husband, so instead of buying a section of foam padding (which may actually be really affordable), I used leftover stuffing I already had sitting around. Make fun of me crafting world, but I saved dough and that's all I care about! Once the cushion was stuffed, I sewed across the opening with a basic long stitch.

Let's have another moment of honestly. I didn't realize until the end that this cushion is a lot smaller than the seat of the chair. Pretty awkwardly so. But I went ahead and tied the thing onto my chair, and I'm quite fond of it. My husband got a chuckle out of it, so I can feel better that I gave him something to laugh about, right? It makes my rear happy, and that's really all I care about!